The present invention relates generally to telecommunication techniques. More specifically, embodiments according to the present invention provide techniques for providing efficient data flow control for network traffics. In particular, various embodiments according to the present invention are compatible with the mobile IPv6 standard. Merely by way of example, the invention has been applied to handover techniques for mobile devices. But it would be recognized that the invention has a much broader range of applicability.
In the past decade, communication technologies rapidly developed. Various communication mediums have been explored, ranging from power line, telephone line, optical line, to wireless communication. Most recently, wireless communication has become more and more popular and widely adopted for the convenience that it offers.
Wireless communication has many applications. Among other things, mobile phones that utilize wireless communication techniques are one of the most popular communicational devices, who claim billions of users today. Another popular application using wireless communication devices is mobile computing devices accessing local networks via wireless links. Through the local wireless networks, mobile computing devices are able to connect to the Internet using wireless internet protocol (IP) technology. Most recently, standard setting organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have developed and promoted various standards for wireless communication networks. For example, the IETF has developed a Mobile IP standard, which is a communications protocol that is designed to allow mobile device users to move from one network to another while maintaining a permanent IP address. In the specification of the application, a mobile device that is in compliance with the Mobile IP standard is referred to as a mobile node (MN), which is broadly defined and should not unduly limit the scope of claims. For example, mobile node may refer to network nodes that is capable of changing location, change links (i.e., addresses), and maintain its connectives using its home address. As merely an example, a mobile can be a laptop, a PDA, etc.
According to the Mobile IP standard (e.g., more specifically the Mobile IPv6 standard), an MN can have two addresses: a permanent home address and a care of address (CoA). Typically, the permanent home address is associated with the home agent that the MN is connected, and the CoA is associated with the network the MN is visiting. For example, a home agent stores information about MN whose permanent address is in the home agent's network. For an MN to be able to connected to more than one network, the MN may have more than one CoA addresses. For example, multiple CoA (MCoA) is required for certain applications (e.g., in a handover process).
Mobile nodes are not the only entities in a Mobile IP network that have multiple CoA's. Correspondent nodes (CN) often have multiple CoA's as well. For example, a correspondent node is a node that communicates with a mobile node. It is to be understood that the terms correspondent node and CN are broadly defined, and should not unduly limit the scope of claims. For example, a CN can be an access router that provides connectivity to an MN, and the CN does not have to be compatible with the Mobile IP standard. Depending on the application, a CN may be a host, router, and other network entities that are involved in transferring data for a mobile node.
The correspondent nodes often have multiple CoA's, as each CoA is used for a specific type of service. For example, a CN has interfaces for different services (e.g., web traffic, VoIP traffic, FTP traffic, etc.) and for each of the service there is a corresponding CoA address. Typically, by having specific CoA for each of the services offered by the same CN, network traffic can be routed in an efficient manner.
Since correspondent nodes have multiple addresses for various interfaces, during a routing process it is important to determine which interface to connect and which address to use. In the past, various conventional techniques have been developed. Unfortunately, these techniques are often inadequate.
Therefore, an improved system and method for directing network traffic is desired.